Guess Who's Back
by peach brandy
Summary: The Marauders 6th year, and they all have plans to get a date for the end of year ball. Eventual James/Lily. Pranks, Snape, a bit of Romance?
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: Together Once More  
  
The dark haired, dark eyed adolescent had a frown etched deep into his brow as he stared off into the fire, listening to that retched mother of his telling him off once more for playing a harmless prank on his 'perfect' brother.  
  
"Really Sirius, why couldn't you be more like Regulus? He's never playing those stupid little jokes on people, he's much more a better 'Black' than you. It's such a shame." But Sirius jumped up out of the expensive leather chair he was seated in before his mother could finish whatever it was she was about to say.  
  
"You know what? I've had enough!" Sirius yelled, staring fiercely at his mother, "you can just go ahead and pretend I'm not your son, you've got 'perfect' Regulus anyway, you don't need me! I'm sick of you always telling me I'm not good enough, and you're damn beliefs in what a 'real Black' is," Sirius continued, his voice rising with each word, "you know what, you might as well blast my name off that go-damned family tree of yours, because from now on you've only got one son, and it sure as hell isn't me! I'm outta here," and with that, a 16 year old Sirius Black strode out of the room, hoping never to see it or it's inhabitants again.  
  
He made a pit stop at the fire place in the living room, and threw some Floo Powder in the blazing fire, before saying "Potter Mansion." A formal sitting area came into view beyond the fire, and Sirius stuck his head into the flames. He looked around at the empty room that held three comfortable looking cream lounges, before yelling out, "Is anyone there?" After waiting barely ten seconds, he heard steady footsteps heading towards the room. A tanned, kind faced looked into the room, then noticing Sirius' head in the fire, strode in, smiling. "Hello there young Sirius," he said, and then seeing Sirius grimace, he added, "is something the matter? I would call James down but I'm afraid he's currently in the shower. Sirius' face shifted into one of thought, and then said, "Actually, Mister Potter, I was hoping I could ask you a favor? I was wondering if I could come spend the rest of the summer over there with James." Mr. Potter, concerned for the boy whose face was usually graced by a jovial grin, instead of the discontented one in front of him, agreed immediately.  
  
"Yes of course you can, you're welcome here whenever you like, you know that," He said kindly. Indeed, Sirius had been over countless of times during the five years he had known James, and the Potter Mansion had become more of a home to him than his own. "Thanks Mister P," the frown on his face had somewhat lessened, "I'll be over in about thirty minutes if that's okay?" "Of course, I'll inform James as soon as he's out of the shower, and we'll prepare your room," James' dad said. Indeed, among the many guest bedrooms in the Potter Mansion, there was one that had now been officially established as Sirius'; he had stayed there often enough.  
  
"Thanks again," and with that, he popped his head out of the fireplace, and quickly made his way to his own room to pack ALL of his belongings. He had made his decision, he would stay at James' house until the end of the holidays, and as for after his next year at Hogwarts, well, he had plenty of time to figure that one out. But he was sure of one thing; he was never going back to the place he had dared to call home for the last sixteen years. Never.  
  
~*~  
  
Forty Five minutes later, a black haired boy with hazel eyes framed by black rimmed spectacles and a lopsided grin, punched his best friend lightly in the arm in way of greeting. "Hey hey mate, I was wondering how long it would be before you were over here again," James Potter said, in greeting to his best friend Sirius Black. Sirius' smile faltered, and, however slightly this was, James noticed. "Yeah, seems like I'm attracted to this place or something," Sirius replied, covering up his unhappiness as to why he was here. "Come on, let's go upstairs, the house elves will take your stuff up to your room," James said, and with that the two best friends - who - should - have - been - brothers walked up to James' room.  
  
Sirius had been to the potter Mansion so many times that he had memorized every hallway, every twist and turn leading up to the bedrooms and pretty much everywhere else. For any one else, this would have been no easy feat, as the Potter Mansion was by no means small. The whole house, if you could call it merely that, held forty four staircases, twenty one bedrooms, two ballrooms, and not even God knows how many bathrooms. Sirius and James never got bored when they were together in this house (Not that they ever got bored when they were together, but nevertheless). Over the many summers Sirius had spent here, he and James had explored the whole mansion, memorizing every room, every broom closet.the place was more like a castle than a mansion, though it would have just sounded conceited to formally call it a castle.  
  
After about five whole minutes of trudging up and down corridors, and idle talk, the two boys finally made it to the second highest room. The room where so many pranks were thought up and discussed, in which most of them were executed at Hogwarts when they got the chance, or just damn felt like it. The room where deep conversations where held, deep conversations that is, of quidditch, girls, one hundred and one ways to embarrass Snape in front of the whole school, more quidditch, and discussions about good times and jokes. To sum it all up: James' Room.  
  
As soon as Sirius walked into the room and plunked down on James' four - post bed, his shoulders untensed, and he just relaxed. He lay down flat on his back and then. He laughed. No, more like he was rolling around on the bed, tears rolling down his face in hysterics. James looked over to his best friend, and he suddenly held a very perplexed/bemused expression on his face.  
  
"Um.mate, care to include me in this oh- so - funny joke of yours? Rolling around on the bed having fits of laughter looks like fun," James said, still looking at Sirius, who he thought had now officially lost it. Sirius sat up in effort, holding his side, still chucking, then said simply, "I'm free!" and with that, he fell back on the bed, once again laughing uncontrollably.  
  
"You know, it usually doesn't take much to amuse me, but I for one, cannot see what is so hilarious at the moment," James said, and with that, he sunk down to sit cross legged on his thick, comfy navy blue rug, pouting like a child defied of a lollipop, while the kid next to him happily sucks away at one. He stayed like this for another couple of minutes as his best friend seemed to be having the time of his life rolling around on his bed. (A/N I know, I know, that didn't sound too good.) Once more, having seemingly gotten control of his laughter, Sirius sat up on the bed, wiping his eyes of the mirthful tears. Panting slightly, he once again said, "I'm free." "Right, this still doesn't confirm as to why I shouldn't call St. Mungos to come and collect you pronto."  
  
Sirius spent the next five minutes explaining to James what had happened before he got there, and how he had made an absolute decision to himself never to step foot into Black Manor ever again. "And to think, I held through all that shit, when I could have just walked out anytime I wanted to. I'm surprised they haven't come looking for me yet. Either they're glad never to have to see me again, or they think I'm going back," Sirius finished off. James got off the rug and clapped Sirius on the shoulder, and solemnly nodded. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you want," James told him. "I know," Sirius replied grinning, "why do you think I chose to come here over anywhere else?" "Err.coz you love me terribly and can't stand being away from me for more than two weeks," James joked, once again getting into the joyful mood he was always in when with his best friend of all time. "In your dreams," Sirius said, "one, I get my own bedroom, I don't have to share it with YOU, and two, you're house elves are mighty good cookers. He said, a dreamy expression coming over his face at the thought of food, then he said cheekily, "besides, there's always the chance that devishly good looking cousin of yours might drop by again like she did last year." This comment was followed by a smiling Sirius being tackled by a 'oh you're gonna pay for that one' looking James. Yup, Sirius thought, while tumbling off the floor, to then quickly pick himself up to accordingly tackle James, this is home.  
  
The next day, James had to be woken up at 1:30 pm by the house elves with a, "Mrs. Potter tells Ringo that Ringo must wake up the boys because they will miss lunch." James groaned at having to be woken up by a high squeaky voice, as house elves voices commonly were, and then to make itself even more irritating it flung open the curtains so that the sun was shining right into his eyes, making it impossible for him to go back to sleep. "Eugh, get lost you damn house elf can't you see I'm quite comfortable right here asleep," grumbled James, but nevertheless, he threw the covers aside and got out of bed anyway. "Would sir like me to wake up Mr. Black also?" Asked Ringo the house elf. "No, I will just bugger off before I stuff a sock in your mouth," groused James, not in a good mood at having been woken up, especially when he had been having such nice dreams. As the house elf left the room he sloppily threw on some emerald green robes and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it had been from sleep, which he did on purpose.  
  
He grudgingly walked into the room proclaimed as Sirius', he didn't like the prospect of waking him up.Sirius was not a morning person. Oh well, pissing Sirius off is fun, I have legs, I'll just throw a bucket of water on him and run away, he'll never know it was me. He strolled into Sirius' room, knowing this wouldn't wake him, really, not even jumping up and down on his bed woke him.but cold water, down his shirt.James chuckled to himself. He went over to the jug of water under the windowsill which his mother insisted on having in every occupied bedroom.God knows why. He picked it up, cautious not to tip any, wanting to save it all for Sirius. He crept over to where Sirius was laying in his bed, the sky blue covers tangled all over the place, looking as if he had used it as a jumping castle before he went to sleep.  
  
Sirius was lying on his back, arms thrown over his face, snoring ever so slightly. Frowning, James put the jug down on the mahogany bedside table and ever so carefully slipped his arms under Sirius and rolled him over so he was lying on his stomach. He jumped back, scared he had woken him up; no, instead Sirius just grunted once then kept on snoring. James let out a tiny sigh of relief. He picked up the jug of water once more and slowly started trickling it down the back of Sirius' neck. Sirius twitched. And again. Finally, James tipped the rest of the water down his back, dropped the jug on the bed and started running out of the room. Halfway there he stopped and turned around, not wanting to miss the opportunity of seeing Sirius' face.  
  
Sirius had jumped around so he was now sitting on the bed, silently saying, "What the." At the sight of Sirius looking utterly confused James snorted with laughter, then quickly tried to cover it up as he realized Sirius might hear him. A look of alarm spread of James' face as he saw Sirius turn towards him. Upon seeing James standing there looking at him he jumped out of bed just as James turned back around and ran out the room. This didn't faze Sirius, he simply ran after James, cursing he would 'pay for that'.  
  
They ran down the corridor, and ignored all the people in the framed paintings hanging up on the walls either yelling encouragements, or grumbling about 'youngsters these days.' They were halfway down the stairs when they heard an "Eep," and then someone clearing their throat rather loudly. Each boy stopped in their tracks, and turned towards whoever was making those sounds. James' mother was standing in the spacious foyer that the stairs led into, next to a rather tall, skinny woman who had a rather strict look about her. Both of them were staring at the boys, Mrs. Potter in a half amused/despairing, while the woman standing beside her was looking on at them in obvious shock.  
  
"Err.hi?" James said rather weakly. "Boys," said James' mother, nodding her head slightly, "Sirius I suggest that you go and put some clothes on before coming down for lunch." Sirius looked confused for a second, then upon noticing James raising an eyebrow at him, he looked down to see that he wearing nothing but his red boxers on, which had little snitches all over it, giving it a rather dizzy affect.  
  
Not looking at all abashed, he turned back to the two women standing in the foyer, winked and said, "Yeah, supposed I should huh," and with that, walked casually back up the stairs. James, shaking his head just kept on walking down the stairs, waved a short hello to his mother and the lady next to her, and strolled his way to the dining room.  
  
Next to ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting at the dining table, eating their scrambled eggs and bacon, while Mrs. Potter sat nearby, sipping on some coffee. "Now really boys, what if that woman hadn't been dear old Mrs. Rinton from next door but someone more important! Like someone from the ministry here for an inspection or something!" Mrs. Potter went on, who had been telling them off for their 'rowdy' behavior this morning. "Now really Mum, I'm sure she enjoyed seeing Sirius in his boxer shorts.I mean, her husband isn't a pretty sight to look at if you ask me." James said bemusedly. His timing was spot on and managed to make his mother splutter into her coffee as she was lifting it to her lips. "James, really, there is no need for that. Mrs. Rinton is not one of those little fan girls that are always bothering you two." As Mrs. Potter ranted on, she seemed to have lost the attention of her son and his best friend, as they had gotten themselves into a deep conversation about the mentioned 'fan girls.'  
  
Indeed, Mrs. Potter was not off track when she mentioned their 'fan girls', as over the years, the two boys had become a somewhat fandom to each and every girl that had reached puberty, and were envied by many males because of this verity. Any girl that dated either of the two were envied by pretty much the whole female population of the school, excluding, perhaps, the professors. These two boys were hot. And they knew it. By the time Mrs. Potter had realized the boys weren't listening, they had already finished their second helping of breakfast and were now pushing their chairs back to go and find something to do. "Oy, Mum, do you reckon we could invite Remus and Peter over to sleep over?" James asked, with a questioning look at his mother, while Sirius nodded his head pleadingly. "Of course you can, you know you're friends are welcome here any time," She said, with a wink towards Sirius, "and Merlin knows, we've got enough space here to fit half you're school." That certainly was not an exaggeration. "We'll go call over now," said James, and with that the two boys bounded out of the room to invite the rest of the Marauders over for the night.  
  
Ten minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting one of the less formal lounge rooms, playing chess to wear away the time left before the rest of their group arrived. Remus would be arriving in the hour, but Peter wouldn't be arriving until that night, as he had to attend his grandfathers 89th birthday lunch. "Checkmate," James said, triumphantly. "Luck," Sirius replied, somewhat nonchalantly, as if trying to make himself look superior, and that he had in fact won that game. "Skill," James rebutted, smirking at Sirius, "admit it, you're just not good enough for me, I am the Chess King, come on, chant it nice and loud." Sirius gave James a look of somewhat concern. "Are you sure you didn't mean 'psycho king' or you know even 'Oddball of the century would work." "Haha, well I guess that's your loss then, 'cause if a supposed 'Oddball' can beat you at a simple game of chess, I'd be worried," James smartly replied, looking smug as he did so. Sirius just rolled his eyes and went about setting up his side of the chessboard again, with the black chess pieces. James chuckled quietly to himself and went about setting his own pieces up.  
  
Three more games and one hour later both boys were sitting in their respective chairs, Sirius with his arms crossed over his chest in an angry manner, and James inspecting his nails, smiling arrogantly. "You cheated then," Sirius protested. "Come now Sirius, Gryffindors don't cheat. Every time we play I win, and every time I win, you pout, and insist that I cheated. That's blasphemous. You just can't admit that I'm better at you than anything." "Not true," Sirius said, though only half heartedly, he never won this gamble, and he didn't suppose he ever would. He had to admit, James had been hard learned in the way of playing chess. Sirius was an extremely good chess player, as he had the mind of a strategist, being a prank player and all, but James would always be that bit better than him.  
  
Suddenly, at the sound of someone news voice, the boys turned towards the doorway of the room. "Deal with it Siri, you're never gonna beat James at chess," said the new voice. "Damn straight," James said, getting up from the lounge and walking over to the new person. Giving him a 'manly' hug and pat on the back, he said "How you doing Remus?!" "Mighty fine," Remus replied. He grinned at Sirius who was walking towards him, then accordingly, Sirius and Remus greeted each other in the same way Remus had with James. "C'mon," James said, "let's go grab a butterbeer from the kitchen, and I'm pretty damn sure I've got a stash of junk food hidden somewhere in my room.unless I've eaten them all.."  
  
So the boys walked, skipped, jumped their way up to James' room, while calling on the dependable house elves to get them a six - pack of butterbeer. The boys spent the rest of the rest of the afternoon mucking about in James' room, eating Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties, and probably every other piece of junk food they found stashed about in James' room. They continued to 'guy gossip' as they liked to call it, which was not the same as the sissy 'girl gossip' they often made fun of but loved to hear, but the good old talk about girl and quidditch. Alas, they could not get through one 'guy gossip' session, with the name of a certain ginger haired, green eyed female popping up. Popping up, that is, out of a certain love sick, black haired, glasses wearing male.  
  
"Guys, listen up," James began, "you absolutely have to help me to get Lily to go out with me on a date. Everything I've tried so far just doesn't seem to work. It's so unfair!" He whined. "James, mate, have you ever considered the thought that maybe, just maybe, one girl in the school doesn't like you. I mean, you've tried showing off in front of her, which doesn't seem to impress her, you've even tried making her jealous by getting her best friend to fall in love with you, you've even considered a damn love potion! None of these things work. Do I need to spell it out for you?! She - does - NOT - want - you. I'm sorry but this is just something you're gonna have to deal with." Remus explained, trying his best to look sympathetic, but totally failed when he took a look at the anguished look on James' face, and he and Sirius fell off the bed laughing at it. "But! There has to be something I can do to make her like me! I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me." James whined on. "Ok, ok," started Sirius, getting up off the floor and plunking back on the bed, "tell you what, when we get back to Hogwarts, I will help you as much as I can to win the heart of Lily Evans, if YOU, my friend, swear to me you will win me the heart of the wonderful Joey Milton." James gave Sirius a queasy look, "Well, after what you did to her 4th year, you know, with the whole 'body development' prank you played on her, you haven't exactly been in her good books." James said, giving Sirius a reproachful look. "What! All I did was speed up the process, I'm sure they would have grown to that size someday anyway." Sirius said, defending himself, "and if I don't get her, you don't get Lily." "Fine fine, it's a deal," James said, and he and Sirius shook hands. Remus was looking on at this with amusement.  
  
"You guys do know, to win the hearts of these ladies you're gonna have to change you're attitude. I mean, part of the reason they don't like is probably because of you're attitude.so, no more pranks on them, no more being a player, and no more trying to impress other girls. You want these girls, you gotta forget about all the rest. Look, 'cause we're now in 6th year, we've got the annual Rulo Ball at the end of the year right? So you win over Joey and Lily by then, and you've got yourself two fine dates for the ball," Remus thoroughly explained. Sirius and James shared a look. "Can we do this?" James asked. "Damn straight we can!" Sirius replied, and with that they launched into ideas as to who Remus should ask to the ball. "You know, Lisa is not a bad chick, and she seems to like you well enough right?" James suggested to Remus. "Nah, sure she's nice enough, but I've got my eyes on Belinda," Remus replied. "Ah, Belinda eh? Yeah, she'd be a nice catch, what you say James, we try to get her for Remus?" Sirius said, wriggling an eyebrow, but before James could reply, Remus intervened. "No no no! Remember when you tried to get me that chick in third year?" He said, half franticly, "She hasn't spoken to me since! I can get her for myself thank you very much. But thanks for offering," he said as an after thought. Sirius just shrugged. "Sure, if you say so Remus, I can set all my efforts on getting Lily for James."  
  
The conversation went on like this for the rest of the day, varying in topics of course. Just before dinner, Peter arrived, and they made a pact to get him a girl for the ball. As Lisa was the only one left in sixth year, and Peter couldn't care less who he had, as long as he wasn't going on his lone, he agreed full - heartedly.  
  
A/N: Hey guys, please drop a line and review, I know this chapter wasn't that good but it's only the first chapter.it will get better in the chapters to come! I promise! 


	2. Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs

Chapter 2: Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs  
  
The next day the boys woke up at noon, and made a mutual decision to play a two on two game of quidditch. James and Sirius were both top players on the Gryffindor quidditch team. James played as one of the three team chasers, while Sirius played as one of the two beaters, which suited him quite well as he was naturally roguish.  
  
Of course, Remus had tried out for the team twice, but just didn't seem to be cut out for it. This didn't both him terribly though, because although he liked quidditch well enough, he could just as easily be content spending his time reading, catching up on school work, or more importantly, fool proofing the Marauders well thought out pranks, making sure absolutely nothing could go wrong.  
  
Peter, on the other hand, could hardly catch a ball on foot, let alone riding a broomstick, which would be quite next to impossible. It was fairly safe to say he would rather watch from the sidelines. He was keener on placing bets on who would win an upcoming school quidditch match, and making profits off other houses when Gryffindor won. Naturally, this money partly went towards the Marauders stash they kept for their pranks.  
  
Since there were only enough people for two people on each team, their game was based on who got the most goals. Of course, being part of a rich, pure blood family, it was only natural that the Potter Mansion held a quidditch pitch, if only three quarters the size of a full sized one, this was more than enough for their game, and at least they had the scoring rings for their goals.  
  
The boys ended up playing two games. The first, Peter and Sirius won, only because they lost count of the score and Sirius declared them the winner "'cause me and Petsie here are just way hotter than you two losers. Therefore, we win!" So of course, they had a rematch which James and Remus won, basically because Peter wasn't on their team. The boys ended up staying on their brooms until dusk; once they had played the two games, they ended up just flying around, mucking about in the air. Once the sky got darker however, they were called in to scrub up before dinner.  
  
~*~  
  
"Now James, you're mother and I have a formal dinner to attend at the Rinton House, you boys will be alone for the rest of the night, we won't be home till late. Behave," he added, with a somewhat stern glance. "Of course father, when are we ever anything but innocent little cherubs, hmm?" James said, with a cheeky grin that said highly otherwise. "Don't worry Mr. Potter, we promise not to break any china," Remus reassured him. "Yes very well," Mr. Potter ended, "bye then." "Bye," chorused the four boys, with cheery waves. With that James' father nodded to the boys and waltzed out of the room. "Well boys, we're on our own," James said, smiling mischievously.  
  
A squeaky voice from the doorway erupted in a squeaky tone, "Sirs, dinner is served." It was one of the house elves, and once it had said that it vanished with a pop. The boys took one look at each other, and raced out of the room. These boys lived for food, especially after spending the day on broomsticks. As the boys made their way through three main dishes of pasta, stir - fry and steak, randomly grabbing a buttered roll, or a scoop of mash potato, they talked about a variety of things; the end of year ball etc. However, there was one topic that was sure to make anyone want to stop and eavesdrop.  
  
"You know, we should have nicknames," James suddenly said. The other three boys gave him a quizzical look. "We do," Sirius finally said, "Jamsie, Remy, Petsie and Siri," and he accordingly pointed to each boy as he stated their 'nicknames.' "No, no. Like, we're the Marauders right, and you know, now that each of us can turn into an animal," James said, dropping his voice, "we should each have a name that represents that animal. You know, like for me, something to do with my antlers." Remus looked thoughtful for a moment, "you know, that's not such a bad idea." He paused, and then, "Oh, ooh! James, you could be prongs!" He said excitedly, gesturing above his head where the antlers would be on a stag. "That I could. Good thinking!" James said, grinning, "now for you guys." At that the boys went silent for a few moments in thought. "Moony," Peter piped up suddenly. "What?!" Sirius said, looking confused. "R.Remus could be...you know...Moony," he said, now somewhat unsure of himself. Remus grinned. "Yeah! I Like it. Moony." He said. At this, the other boys smiled too. "Catchy that one is. Now me." Sirius said eagerly. "Hmm," thought Remus. "Furface." "Waggy." "Bitch." "Snuffles." At this, Sirius, who currently had a mouthful of Pumpkin Juice in his mouth, spluttered, and spurted this all over Peter's plate. "Snuffles! Snuffles! The best you could come up with!? Snuffles..!" While Remus and James were chuckling and making noises as you would to a cute little puppy dog, Peter just pouted and complained, "Aww, look what you've done to my food." Everyone ignored this. "Ok, ok, something other than Snuffles I take," Remus said, with a grin. Sirius gave him 'the look.' The list went on until. "Fastfeet?" "Padfoot." At this Sirius grinned and said, "Finally, some genius. Now, for good old Petsie." "Scatter." "Cat chow." and again the list went on until James spoke up. "How about Wormtail." Peter gave him a look of somewhat horror. James elaborated. "Ok, don't you remember. It was like the second time we went out onto the ground in our animal forms; we went into the forest and." "And that bird attacked your tail 'cause it thought it was a worm!" Sirius finished for him, and again, the boys cracked into mirthful laughter at this memory. "So what do you think? Wormtail?" Asked James. "Well, it's better than Cat Chow," said Peter resignedly, though smiling nevertheless.  
  
~*~  
  
The next few weeks until the start of term went by in a flurry. The boys used their new nicknames as often as possible, and soon it became a second nature to call each other these names instead of those on their birth certificates.  
  
In the last week of the holidays the boy's floo'd their way to Diagon Alley, where they bought all their school supplies, and a few of quite the opposite. A few Filibuster Fireworks and Sound Charms later, the four Marauders were sitting at an outside table, enjoying the taste of Florean Fortescue's ice cream. Though, not alone; sitting with them was Belinda and Lisa, two of the sixth year female Gryffindors. Although, no Lily.  
  
While Remus was quite smooth, as James would say, while talking to Belinda, and did indeed flirt, if ever so subtly with her, Peter was quite the opposite. He was shy and nervous, and couldn't quite get his mouth around any coherent words. Finally, after many not so subtle nudging from Sirius and winks of encouragement from James, Peter found his voice, and made an attempt at conversation with Lisa, even if it was that bit futile. "So.so Lisa.you do anything these holidays?" Peter finally managed to say.  
  
"Yeah, sure, for the first two weeks my family and I visited some distant cousins in Canada. I tell you though, they've got some weird ass way of talking over there," she replied, somehow withstanding Peters spluttering.  
  
The girls chit chatted idly with the boys, though couldn't stay for as quite soon Belinda's mother came by to pick them both up. The girls said their farewells, with promises of finding them on the Hogwarts express on the first of September. When the boys were alone again, Remus said, "Care to explain what these are for?" and gestured towards the bag carrying the Filibuster Fireworks and Sound Charms. At this, Sirius grinned and as the four boys huddled together, told them of the prank tool he had invented in his time alone at the Black Manor, and the Marauders discussed the many pranking opportunities that came along with this ever so useful tool.  
  
To onlookers, this scene may have looked like four innocent boys simply getting overexcited about a recently watched quidditch match or the likes. They would see one of the boys gesturing wildly with his arms, clapping his hands together once, then with a pointed finger, spiraled his hand upwards, chatting excitedly. At this, the boys would all laugh, maybe with a hint of cheekiness, but could still perhaps be taken as innocent. Little did they know.  
  
~*~  
  
As the Hogwarts express chugged on, making its way towards the famous Hogwarts, James and Sirius were strolling down the train, ducking their heads in compartments, trying to find the rest of their fellow Marauders, Remus and Peter.  
  
"This one?" Asked James, as Sirius ducked his head into another compartment. "Eugh, no, it's that fat pudgy Hufflepuff and that annoying sister of his that dobbed us in to McGonagall. "Next," James said, making a face. "Slytherins, next, my dungbombs are in my suitcase." James looked into the next compartment, and instead of saying anything, just made a number of faces - amusement, shock, disgust - and then finally, after not saying anything for at least 20 seconds, Sirius blurted out, "What is it already!?" "Is that.no.Joshua? ...and.and." stuttered back James. Finally, getting sick of this, Sirius pushed hi. Aside and looked into the compartment himself, and then opened his mouth in shock. "Joshua.and.and.Michael?" Sirius was just as stunned. Then, coming out of his stupor, James grabbed Sirius' arm and they jogged away from that particular compartment. They kept going at a quick pace until they heard Remus' voice shout out to them. "Oy! We're in here!" So the boys back trotted a few steps and looked into the window of the compartment where the voice came from, just to make sure it was the right one, then they hurriedly walked into the compartment where Remus and Peter sat, apparently in the middle of a games of Exploding Snap.  
  
Remus looked up from his cards and said, "Finally, you said you would be here soon, I didn't think it would take that long to talk to you're Quidditch Captain," then, noticing their disgusted faces, asked "what is it?" At this James spoke up, "Did you know that the Head Boy and Michael Willipot were.gay? Together!" At this, Peter apparently had a horrible mental image and started spluttering. Remus, however, did not look phased. "Of course, that's old news. They've been together since last year, when that Elizabeth chick broke up with Michael, and Joshua was there to 'comfort' him. I'm surprised you guys hadn't noticed, the whole of Gryffindor Tower knows." "Oh, I thought they were just.good friends," muttered James, as Sirius just nodded dumbly in agreement. "Nah," Remus, said, waving his hand, "come on, play some Exploding Snap with us." Before Sirius and James got the chance to walk over to where Peter and Remus where playing, the compartment door opened.  
  
Through the door came Belinda and Joey Milton, two of the resident female sixth year Gryffindors. Upon seeing the Marauders, Belinda smiled and greeted them. Joey looked around with a not too happy look no her face, and tugged at Belinda's sleeve, jerking her head back towards the door. "Hang on," Belinda told the boys, and she followed Joey back out of the compartment. "What is it?" Belinda inquired of Joey. "You're actually friendly with those dickheads?" Joey asked, motioning towards the door of the compartment. "Look Joey, I know you and Lily don't really like them. Once you get to know them they're really nice," Belinda started, and then when Joey began to protest she quickly explained, "Look, why they're not trying to impress everyone, they're great to be around. And you have to admit, Remus isn't all that bad, even when he is around everyone else, its really just James and Sirius. Just give them a chance, you'll see for yourself." At Belinda's sincere look, Joey was at least half convinced. "Ok," Joey said hesitantly, "but if they make and cheesy or rude comment you can't blame me if I walk out." "Deal," and with that, Belinda opened the door and walked back inside the compartment, Joey at her heels.  
  
While Belinda and Joey were outside discussing the boys, James said to Sirius, "Mate, this is your chance, you gotta show her how great a guy you are." "And don't stuff it up. Be nice," Remus added, "or you might stuff it up for me as well." At this, Sirius pretended to look hurt and horrified of the very idea. "Of course!" He said, "She won't be able to resist my wondrous charm, you have nothing to worry about." "I beg to differ," Remus said dryly. Before Sirius could say anything else, the compartment door opened once more, and the two potential dates walked back in.  
  
"Glad you decided to join us," James said, Sirius nudged him and then smiled at Joey. "There's a place here if you want to sit," Sirius said, pointedly at Joey, and then scooted over to make space for her. Joey vacillated, but Belinda gave her a look that clearly said 'what are you waiting for', and so with that, Joey went and sat next to Sirius, while Belinda plunked herself happily down next to Remus. They obviously had a connection.  
  
As Remus and Belinda chatted easily with each other, never at a loss for words, and James went to sit with peter to play some Exploding Snap, Sirius sat with Joey, trying to show her his 'better' side. "So, I've seen that you're pretty good at Transfiguration," Sirius tried, hoping to start and open conversation. "Of course, I find the subjects I like, I'm good at. I apply myself, you know." Joey replied. "I know exactly what you mean! The art of being able to change something at your own will, to suit your needs, it's amazing!" Sirius elaborated. Joey seemed impressed. Good looking and smart? Now there's a good bonus, thought Joey, and we actually have something in common.god, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. "I know, it's excellent. I heard you got quite a few O.W.L.S. for our Transfiguration exam," Joey said, instead of voicing her thoughts. "Yeah, I was expecting the theory to be a bit harder actually."  
  
~*~  
  
James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The entire school was seated in the great Hall for the Welcome feast, and it was nearing the end. He tuned out as Professor Dumbledore spoke a few words to the respectfully silent students.  
  
From the time he had set his eyes on Lily that evening when they were boarding the horseless carriages, until about twenty minutes ago, James had tried to make conversation with Lily, but his attempts were completely futile. He has tried everything to get her to talk to him; starting conversations about things he knew she was interested in, but every time he did she seemed to just completely ignore him. He even tried small talk, casually asking her to pass the mash potato, and subtly telling her that he liked her ring and asking where she got it from. She had just looked at him exasperatedly and said "you wouldn't know the place" and then had gone back to contributing in a conversation with a seventh year girl on her left.  
  
He glanced over at her as she gave her full attention to Dumbledore. The light from the candles reflected off her face, giving it a certain glow. Her intoxicating green eyes twinkled as Dumbledore made a joke, I wish I could make her eyes twinkle like that, and her red hair shined in the magically presented night sky. She's so beautiful, he thought to himself, not for the first time. Maybe she is the one girl that I don't deserve. I don't get her, she's so complicated.and yet, so simple. She's never has anything bad to say about anyone else, unless perhaps they insult her in some way, but then she just defends herself. She even stands up for Snape. He thought back to the times when she had told him off for doing something nasty to Snape, even when he reminded her of all the spiteful things Snape had said to her.  
  
Someone shook him out of his thoughts. Remus was standing behind him with Peter at his side. James looked around at the students climbing out of their seats and heading out of the huge double doors of the great Hall, to go to their respective dormitories. Sighing, he got out of his own seat and followed his friends out the doors.  
  
"Where's Sirius?" James asked, noticing the absence of his friend. "He went ahead with Joey, he said he was going to walk her up to the tower," Remus replied. "I don't know how he did it," started peter, "she seems completely taken by him, and it's only first day back. He'll definitely have her as a date for the ball." "Yeah," said Remus, "seems like he doesn't need you're help to win her over after all. Although, I dare say, you'll be needing all the help you can get to get Lily." James flinched at the reminder, but said smoothly, "Don't worry, there's still plenty of time to win over Lily Evans' heart." He heard a sob nearby. He looked around and saw a pretty brunette fifth year looking at him with tears in her eyes, and then she ran off; her friend glared at him before chasing after her. Remus looked amused.  
  
"Oh, damn," said James, "I thought she would have taken a hint after I didn't write back to her last letter in the holidays. I mean, it's not like I ever said I loved her or anything." He glanced hopelessly at Remus. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll get over it," reassured Remus, "So how many ex - girlfriends is that?" "Tch, I lost count after fourth year. I thought you would keep track." Remus laughed. "Ok, well you know you can't have anymore girlfriends now. Well, and that don't go by the name of lily Evans." Peter said. James just grumbled.  
  
But Peter is right, he thought to himself, I gotta change my attitude. No more Mister James Potter heart breaker extraordinaire. Maybe I should ask David for some advice on how to stick to one girl. David was in seventh year and had been going out with his girlfriend, Claire, since they were both fourth years. He was even talking about proposing to her after graduation. That's gotta be hard. I've never seen him even look at another girl in interest.talk about devotion. But.Lily.she's definitely worth it.  
  
James went to bed that night with thoughts of speaking to David the next day, asking for advice.  
  
A/N: Hey guys, just dropping a note to ask everyone to please review! Constructive criticism welcome. Next chapter you will find out exactly what this useful pranking tool is. 


End file.
